KyTriplets

My local guild is in flux right now and I'm hoping we can right the ship. I'm hoping you will all allow me to pick your collective hive brain.

How often do your guild officers meet?
How often does your whole guild meet?
At each guild meeting is there a program or is it more relaxed?
How many active members does your guild have?
What are the best things about your guild and what are the things you'd want to change?

beehappyquilts

Let's see. Guild officers meet 1-2 times per month. Our guild meets once a month. At our meetings we always have a program and a very large show and tell after the business and program is over. We currently have about 60 active members at each meeting. I think the best thing about our guild is the ladies. They are willing to share tips and help where needed. If I could change anything it would be the meeting place. It takes me about 1 1/2 hours to get to the meeting. Oh well, that too is my choice.

VickyS

Guild officers meet 1x per month. Guild meets 1x per month. We have a program with good speakers and large show and tell after business and program. We have over 450 members in the guild, with about 150 -200 at each meeting.

Best thing about the guild is the small groups which are great for getting and giving help. What would I change? Nothing really, because it seems like the best of both worlds - large enough to get good speakers, yet small enough in the small groups to make friends and get to know others of various skill levels.

BellaBoo

My guild meets one day a month for the guild meeting. One day a month for community projects and one day month for open sewing. We meet in the morning and have all day. Our officers meet once a year to set the budget. If there are other issues it's usually at the meetings the officers discuss it. We have nearby quilt shops come vend every so often. It's very informal but the President follows Robert's Rule of sorts. We are registered as non profit so the guild can receive grants for our charity projects. When I joined this guild it was mostly elderly members that would not change anything. Spending a dollar from the treasure would put most of them in swoon. They actually thought paying $25 for a guest speaker was generous. The guild made several thousand dollars a year by raffling a quilt. And all that money was just sitting there not being used. Their reasoning was save for a rainy day.?
We had a program every meeting. Usually a workshop how to make a handsewn project, very boring. I was President for two years (no one else wanted the job) and brought in many new younger members that have voted in change. We have about 30 members and gave the new program person a big budget. We are looking forward to having better programs to draw in more new members. Guilds that want to thrive, have to stay interesting and current and accept the modern along with the traditional ways of quilting and not be dried up in a rut of it's always been this way.

lindy-2

officers ? no idea guild once a month short program good show and share. about 30 active members. like most things except seems a bit focused on money and wish there were some younger quilters im the youngest and most are my moms age or older.

EIQuilter

Both our officers and the guild as a whole meet once a month. We have a program at every meeting except for our annual meeting. Every program I've attended has been with a guest speaker. We have both morning and evening meetings - 350+ members, and probably 200+ are active (I've never really counted to see how many are at the meetings).

I like that we do a lot of service projects and that the programs cover a wide variety of interests. Even if one month's program isn't something that is of particular interest to you, a future one probably will be - there's not a focus on any one specific area (i.e., all art quilts or all traditional quilts).

If I could change anything it would be that - as with many large groups - it would be more welcoming to new members. I think they try their best, but they don't really provide newbies with much information or a way to get involved. They're kind of on their own.

Scissor Queen

I belong to four guilds, two small, two large. Both of the small guilds only meet once a month and don't have separate board member meetings. One of the large guilds only meets every 3 months and I don't know if they have separate board meetings. The 2nd large guild has a board meeting the week before the membership meeting and meets once a month. The 2nd large guild had some kind of program every month but they only have a "national" teacher once a year. The rest of the year they have local teachers. One of the small guilds has some kind of small demo or class every month.

ckcowl

our guild officers meet once a month ( or more if there is a need) usually in the morning of the evening regular meeting- we have a program- many community projects & guest speakers- workshops
there are over 100 active members.
we have/enjoy a large show & tell at every meeting
the only thing i would change is the distance involved.

ckcowl

our guild officers meet once a month ( or more if there is a need) usually in the morning of the evening regular meeting- we have a program- many community projects & guest speakers- workshops
there are over 100 active members.
we have/enjoy a large show & tell at every meeting
the only thing i would change is the distance involved.

NinaLemon

My guild meets once per month and we have a board meeting for officers and chairs one per month (anyone can attend the board meeting if they wish).

Our monthly program meeting consists of announcements (info on trips, shows, activites, workshops, etc.), the "program" which is the presentation by our guest speaker. Two months out of the year instead of a guest speaker we have either mini-demos (guild members demonstrate tips, techniques or patterns) or have the locL shops come in to talk about classes, sales, etc. After the guest speaker we have show and tell and then drawings for name tag, block of the month and oppurtunity.

We have a little over 200 member in the guild, usually around 125-150 show up to the meeting and around 25-30 do of the majority of the organization, planning and work to keep the guild running.

We have workshops put on by our guest speaker either the day before or the day after our program meeting. These workshops are getting expensive, partly do to the travel and lodging expense to bring and speakers and partly because the speakers are charging more. Many of our members are having trouble affording the workshops so we also offer member led workshops that are either free or $5.

We also have weekly charity workshops, these are really just a sit and sew with the projets that are being done for charity, they are done in a members home so the space is very limited. We also host large charity workshops twice a
year.